Harvard Takes Home Ivy League Championships After Another Run On Pool Records

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, March 1. In front of a home-pool crowd, the Harvard Crimson took home its 23rd Ivy League Championship title after ending Princeton’s six-year reign at the top of the conference.

Harvard finished with 1495 points, while Princeton took second overall with 1413 points in a close finish. Penn placed third with 1050 points with Yale claiming fourth with 987 points.

Penn’s Chris Swanson posted the only sub-15:00 time in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle en route to a winning time of 14:53.75. That performance nipped the pool record of Olympic gold medalist Brian Goodell, who clocked a 14:54.07 in 1981 for the now-defunct UCLA men’s program. Swanson also crushed John Cole’s 2005 meet record of 14:58.35. Yale’s Brian Hogan placed second in 15:02.42, while Princeton’s Zach Ridout snared third in 15:12.22.

Harvard freshman Jack Manchester turned in a 1:42.62 to top the men’s 200-yard back after posting a 1:42.56 in prelims. Manchester’s prelim time smashed David Cromwell’s meet record of 1:43.17 set for Harvard in 2006, and also bettered Colin Cordes’ pool record of 1:44.55 from 2011. Princeton’s En-wei Hu-Van Wright placed second in 1:43.44, while Dartmouth’s James Verhagen touched third in 1:44.52.

One of the few pool records to withstand this weekend proved to be Alex Righi’s 42.53 in the 100-yard freestyle in 2008 as Harvard’s Chris Satterthwaite powered his way to victory in 43.11. Penn’s Eric Schultz took second in 43.30 with Harvard’s Griffin Schumacher earning third in 43.56.

Dartmouth’s Nejc Zupan edged Harvard’s Eric Ronda, 1:54.29 to 1:54.60, in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke as both obliterated the 1981 pool record of 1:56.29 set by Steve Lundquist for SMU. Princeton’s Byron Sanborn snagged third overall in 1:56.68.

Brown’s Thomas Glenn eclipsed both the meet and pool records in the men’s 200-yard fly with a winning 1:42.35. That swim beat Dan Eckel’s 2009 pool mark of 1:44.08 and Doug Lennox’s 2009 meet record of 1:42.78. Columbia’s Kevin Quinn (1:43.32) and David Jakl (1:43.68) also cleared the pool record for second and third overall.

Harvard’s Michael Mosca posted a pool record of his own in diving with 409.50 points to win the three-meter diving title. That beat Grant Nel’s 407.48 from 2009, but just missed Mosca’s meet record of 409.85 from a year ago. Princeton’s Mark O’Connell finished a distant second with 329.15 points, while Harvard’s Joe Zarrella took third with 327.30 points.

Harvard’s Griffin Schumacher (43.81), Oliver Lee (43.66), Jack Manchester (44.03) and Chris Satterthwaite (42.13) completed the title-winning run for the Crimson with a pool-record effort of 2:53.64 in the 400-yard free. That beat Mission Viejo’s 1980 record of 2:53.86. Penn’s Alex Porter, Eric Schultz, Dillon McHugh and Rhoads Worster took second in 2:54.76, while Princeton’s En-wei Hu-Van Wright Harrison Wagner, Jeremy Wong and Sandy Bole finished third in 2:55.12.

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Author: Jason Marsteller

Jason Marsteller is the general manager of digital properties at Swimming World. He joined Swimming World in June 2006 as the managing editor after previous stints as a media relations professional at Indiana University, the University of Tennessee, Southern Utah University and the Utah Summer Games.